In a fourth quarter filled with futility by both teams, the
Sonics failed to score a basket over the the final 7:05 and
were beaten, 88-85, by the Denver Nuggets, who got 24 points
from Voshon Lenard.

After Shammond Williams' layup with just over seven minutes
left pulled the Sonics within 81-79, they managed only six free
throws the rest of the way. They missed their final eight
shots and committed five turnovers during that span.

"We didn't play the way a playoff team needs to play," said
Sonics guard Brent Barry, who scored 15 points. "We're finding
unique ways to play ourselves out of games."

In the final period, the teams combined for just 28 points on
10-of-36 shooting. Seattle went 4-of-15 while the Nuggets were
6-of-21.

Lenard scored 16 points after halftime and Juwan Howard
finished with 22 and 11 rebounds for the Nuggets, who won three
of four meetings with Seattle this season. It is the first
season series win for Denver over Seattle since 1987-88.

George McCloud chipped in 16 points for Denver, which stopped a
seven-game losing streak.

Nuggets point guard Tim Hardaway suffered a broken left foot
late in the first quarter and will miss the rest of the season.
He suffered the injury after Seattle guard Randy Livingston
stepped on his foot.

"We were really concerned about Tim," Nuggets coach Mike Evans
said. "He was playing so well and worked himself into shape to
play. It was really sad to seem him play."

Rashard Lewis and Predrag Drobnjak each had 16 points for the
Sonics, whose lead over Utah for the final Western Conference
playoff berth was sliced to one-half game.

"We didn't take care of business," Seattle coach Nate McMillen
said. "We came basically to play a game not as focused as we
should have been. That's a game we probably should've won.
It's a loss, it's as simple as that. For whatever reason, we
didn't play a good game. It's one we needed to win and didn't
do that."

A pair of foul shots by Barry with 2:49 remaining pulled
Seattle into an 85-85 tie. The teams went scoreless until
Howard made a spinning layup in the lane, putting Denver ahead
for good with 35 seconds left.

"I knew I had a mismatch on (Desmond) Mason and they were going
to double-team, so I had to make a move before they did,"
Howard said. "I was able to spin off him and get the big
basket."

Lewis, who also collected 15 rebounds, had a chance to give the
Sonics the lead with less than 30 seconds left but missed a
3-pointer. McCloud grabbed the rebound and split a pair from
the line three seconds later.

Gary Payton tried to tighten things but missed a wild layup
attempt. Howard squandered a chance to seal it for the
Nuggets, misfiring on two foul shots with 7.6 seconds remaining.

Following a timeout, Barry got a decent look at the basket, but
his 3-pointer from just to the left of the key hit the
backboard and time expired.

As a team, Seattle shot just 35 percent (30-of-85) and made
just 4-of-19 attempts from 3-point range.

Lenard, seeing increased playing time following the early
injury to Hardaway, came alive in the third quarter with14
points. He drained a 3-pointer and made another basket in a
7-2 run to close the period that gave the Nuggets a 75-70
advantage.

Lenard did most of his damage on the perimeter, hitting
10-of-20 shots, including four 3-pointers. Howard was the
inside presence as he was 9-of-18 from the field.

Denver took its largest lead at 81-72 with 9:02 remaining on a
layup by Ryan Bowen before the Sonics battled back.